Among these are having complete control over all aspects of the site’s development and progress and being able to learn what is successful and what doesn’t work.

However, SEO is very definitely a long-term commitment of time and effort. Some parts of the process can be difficult and search engines can be slow in responding to changes that might ultimately prove successful. For this reasons consideration should be given to using a professional SEO if you don’t feel capable of doing the job yourself.

SEO professionals provide a history of varied experiences, might have contacts that are useful and can be depended upon to diagnose and fix possible problems and issues having to do with ranking. Although the SEO professional can generally be expected to cost more money up front, there is a distinct possibility that the project can be completed in less time, and with better results, than a DIY attempt at SEO.

If uncertainty prevails on which route to take, be aware that a balance can be achieved by taking part of the project yourself, and hiring an SEO consultant who will charge an hourly rate and provide assistance as requested.

However, if you do decide to go with a professional SEO, make sure that your choice is a well educated one as the SEO industry has a reputation of attracting those who cannot be trusted and are not honest. In particular, during the process of choosing a firm, be aware of those who offer link exchanges and “free-for-all” links and beware of overly aggressive tactics such as manipulation and search spam, both of which can result in a ban from search engines, which would be a full-fledged disaster.

Here are some examples of pertinent questions to ask of any firm or individual whom you are considering hiring to take care of your SEO:

Following are some useful questions to ask a potential SEO provider:

Do you always follow the accepted and approved Google Webmaster Guidelines?

What results should I expect and in what time frame? How much experience do you have in the field of SEO?

What do you consider to be your most important SEO techniques?

How long have you been in business as an SEO consultant/expert?

How will I communicate with you?

Will you be sharing all of the changes you might make to my website, as well as providing information about your recommendations and why you make those recommendations?

The final bit of advice to keep in mind in implementing SEO is to keep in mind that a huge amount of patience is required for this. In order to have a web site with a strong ranking, build a strong foundation that follows these rules:

Offer content that is different and unique.

Build links and relationships with those in other online communities

Use discretion when presenting information; avoid display ads and pop-ups.

Pay diligent attention to website quality and the success of various promotions.

Know the guidelines by which you can determine the success, or failure, of your efforts.

Whether you do the SEO yourself or seek a third party provider, make sure the foundation is there, along with a clear understanding of what needs to happen over what period of time.

Even though dropshipping is just about the easiest business to start up and run for the entrepreneur, you will still have to implement some sort of accounting to keep your books correctly.

If you’re a whiz at bookkeeping and accounting you can perform this time consuming task yourself.

But, if you are numerically challenged and have trouble even using a calculator and have to take off your shoes to count above ten, it would probably behoove you to get some outside help for this highly detailed but necessary job.

Here are 3 services that might be of use to you for your business accounting needs:

Xero: Free to try for 30 days, Xero won’t allow multiple users in the free version. But this isn’t usually a big concern of entrepreneurs, anyway. The free demo comes fully loaded with all kinds of sample data, and you will be able to wander around and explore all the program features right away. You may upload your own dropshipping company data and try Xero, also. The free demo with sample data is available to you for life.

If you try Xero for 30 days and like it, you can upgrade to the full, paid version for $29.99 per month. Or you can pay annually and save $59. Xero has a user friendly set-up and dashboard, with graphic displays of incoming and outgoing money, credit card and bank balances, and more. You can use any of the features and functions such as checking a bank balance anywhere there is internet service.

Clarity Accounting: This one offers a free demo and a free 30 day trial. Clarity has automatic currency conversion, which is a nice feature for ecommerce businesses with international customers. The full, paid version of Clarity Accounting is only $10 per month, or $100 annually.

Quickbooks Online: The free service is limited to 20 customers, but the paid version is only $9.95 per month. Quickbooks Online Plus is $34.95 per month, customer support access, advanced bill and income tracking features, automated online banking downloads, multiple user access and more than 65 standard financial reports. You probably wouldn’t need all that, so the cheaper plan would suffice.

Using some sort of accounting software can facilitate your drop ship business financial record keeping, and save you a lot of time!

In the fiercely competitive world of Internet dropshipping, everyone is trying to develop special features that set them apart from their rivals. Some do this by slashing their prices, or offering only the very latest products. However, one of the best ways to stand out is through spectacular marketing.

Think about this cool concept: a site that interacts with customers, instead of passively displaying text and pictures. In other words, a site that makes use of videos and sound clips to convey information.

Videos are an effective marketing instrument for many reasons. By their very nature, they hold attention better than masses of text. In addition, do not underestimate the effect of a perceived personal connection between buyer and seller. If site visitors feel that they have gotten to know you a little (an impression much more easily conveyed via videos than through pages of sales copy), there is a bigger possibility that they will trust you to sell them a good product.

Also, customers may be bored by long lists of specs, or they may actually not fully understand these specs. It might actually be better to show the product in action. Customers might be more easily persuaded to shell out extra money for a premium version of a certain product if you actually demonstrate how much better the premium product is than its "regular" counterpart.

Your clips can be especially suited to products that require complex assembly. As many buyers of supposedly "simple" gadgets know, instruction manuals do not always offer a good sense of the actual procedure. Show your customers how to use your product properly.

There are many providers out there, but Pixeletell and Sitepal are definitely two of the best, and may also be tried out for free.

Sitepal is an excellent choice for the dropshipper on a budget. First of all, it is for free, so dropshipping entrepreneurs do not have to worry about a huge investment. It also offers other features gratis, mainly to do with the sound aspect of your media. You can, for example, use your phone, computer microphone, or text-to-speech engine to create and add personalized sound clips to your site. If you already have some finished sound files, you can simply upload them onto the desired page.

You can also create links within your own eBay account site, so that visitors to other pages, like your online listings page(s), can easily find their way to your media.

Pixeltell, for its part, has a very tempting set of bonus features. These features increase your ability to disseminate your marketing media through a variety of channels. For example, you will be able to email customers either the link to your videos, or the videos themselves. Pixeltell provides great features to make and upload sound clips, but a disembodied voice on your site may turn off or disorient your customers. They might prefer to a see a human face. It does not have to be your face, which you might not wish to show for privacy reasons. This is why you can also use Pixeltell to design an avatar, somewhat like the charming personalized cartoons one sees in the better chat program.

You can have Pixeltell's typical package for just nine dollars a month.

Visit Pixeltell and Sitepal to learn more about how you can give your online marketing that extra kick.

For many store-owners, keeping records is a tricky, irksome business. It can be very tedious, and does not offer the fun and friendliness of customer-to-seller interaction. However, here is some great news for dropshippers with shops on eBay: the auction website is willing to keep your records for you. Even better this service can available free for dropshipping and other types of online business.

This service is called Outright, and is found under the Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro part of your account. A word on access: you will have to go straight from your eBay Dashboard to Selling Manager in order to use Outright. Outright can be considered a free accessory to Selling Manager, which you do have to pay for. However, do keep in mind that eBay sellers once had to pay for Outright. The fact that Outright is now free should give you all the more reasons to start using it.

It might seem that Outright is a simple adding machine-type website that simply totals up what you buy and what you sell on eBay, and subtracts one from the other. This is far from the truth. Outright is simple to use, but it is also very sophisticated in design. If you like, you can input other expenses, such as the gas and electricity money you spend in relation to your online business. You can also input other fees, such as your payments for the use of off-site credit card processors. Outright can organize all your business finances, not just the prices of the things you buy and sell.

Another amazing feature of Outright is that you do not have to start your bookkeeping from scratch once you begin using the service. Outright actually reaches back through thirty whole days of your transactions, so your most recent business history also becomes part of your current records.You do not have to have an eBay account in order to use Outright. If you are interested in their package, you can visit their website and register right away. You can have somebody keep your finances in order, all without paying a cent.

Of course, in these days, when hacking is becoming ever more complex, you will be worrying about keeping your data safe. Entering this type of financial information into an online accounting service can be rather scary. However, there is no need to panic. The makers of Outright understand these legitimate concerns, and have designed their product to be shielded by an encryption system, so you can enter your information safely.

Much of the time, business advice is to do solely with increasing profits. However, advice concerning at-home work should take a broader approach. After all, many people choose to work at home not only because it is often more cost-effective, but because they wish to make time for other pursuits, or because their regular office work has sunk into the doldrums. Therefore, advice about dropshipping should do more than tell you how to make more money. It should also indicate how dropshipping can be made more efficient in terms of time, and also more enjoyable. Here are some tips reflecting this more holistic approach to dropshipping advice.

1. Know what tasks and objectives are the most important to you. In other words, keep your priorities straight. This is an integral part of planning when it comes to allocating resources, like time and money. It will also be of especial use to you in an emergency. Instead of getting swamped by the new circumstances, you will already be aware of what truly needs your attention, and what you can afford to change or let go. In fact, all this holds true not just for business, but for your personal life, as well.2. Learn about and exploit modern communications technology. You may know the basics, but there are plenty of gadgets out there that might make business even better and more convenient. For example, being able to receive and answer email via your cell phone means that you can conduct business while on the go. You will be able to use commuting time to get work out of the way, instead of staring into space waiting for your journey to end. Assuming you are not driving, of course! In addition, you can try to program certain functions of your website to work on their own, so that you do not have to keep doing repetitive updates.3. Understand your business processes, and find the particular tasks or segment of time that have the most direct impact on your profit. Focus on those tasks, instead of spending too much time on other aspects that will not influence your profit much.4. Obtain support, if you need it. Try to determine the business tasks that take up inordinate amounts of your time. Perhaps certain tasks are necessary, but far too time-consuming. Or perhaps you do not yet have the expertise to accomplish certain programming tasks. You might actually make more money if you invest in the salary of one or more support staff, or outsource certain tasks. For example, if you do not know the intricacies of site building, you may choose to buy a turnkey solutions site, which does a lot of the complex initial programming for you. Think of it as dropshipping made easy by giving you a template you can quickly use and update. It is true that some people choose to work at home because they like working alone. However, if you pick the right assistants, work can become not just efficient but a positive joy.

Thousands of people are making substantial incomes with an online dropshipping business every year, and you can, too.

If you are tired of working for somebody else in a dead end job, and dream of being your own boss with a home based business, but haven’t decided exactly what sort of ecommerce business you want to have, you should certainly look into dropshipping.

The whole idea of working for yourself, and possibly by yourself, from the comfort of your own home is naturally appealing. But, one of the biggest mistakes made by hopeful netrepreneurs is to take on too much work and end up stretched too thin….overloaded with too much to do.

The solution to that is to outsource what you aren’t all that good at, and personally concentrate on doing the things that you excel at.

For instance, if you are terrible with math and hate keeping books, messing with taxes, and so on; outsource it. Have your spouse take over that job if he or she is willing and able. If that isn’t do-able---hire somebody else to do it. You can find someone on the internet to tend to this necessary chore for you, at a reasonable cost.

If you hate writing content and can barely string three words together to make a sentence, don’t beat your brains out trying to do something you aren’t good at. It will only discourage, exhaust and frustrate you. Instead, outsource the content writing. Hire a freelancer online to write some fantastic web content for you, thus freeing yourself to focus on the things that YOU do best.

We all can’t be good at everything. If marketing and promotion is your forte, then don’t spin your wheels trying to be the chief cook and bottle washer by taking care of every phase of your business all by your lonesome.

If you outsource the things you aren’t that good at and hate doing, you can expend all of your creative energy on the things that you do best. If you devote most of your working hours to marketing and promotion, for example, you will almost certainly generate enough extra income to more than offset the cost of hiring some of the other work done.

Drop Ship Access is a great way to outsource, because they will take care of housing the products you sell, keeping up with physical inventory and shipping for you!

This is a major time saver, and will free up many, many hours of your time that you can spend on making sales!

Are you planning to start your own online dropshipping business, but are feeling a bit intimidated at the prospect of designing and making a site? You might want to use a Turnkey Solutions Website. Then again, are Turnkey Solutions really for you? Would you prefer to use an existing template which you can tweak later, or would you rather take the risk and design everything yourself? This article gives you a run-down of the advantages and disadvantages of Turnkey Solutions so you can decide for yourself whether you wish to buy the service.

Quick and Easy

Turnkey Solutions can also help you by allowing you to choose from several template options. Or you can leave almost everything up to the site designers and ask them to create a design for you. Once the most complicated coding and design components are set up, you can easily update and build on your Turnkey Solutions site, because you will be given a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) so you can edit content later. This is very helpful, especially if you are in a hurry.

Search Engine Optimization

This refers to techniques used in site design and content so that potential customers are more likely to go to your site via the most popular search engines. Site text as well as labels of multimedia and pictures are formulated to take advantage of the way search engines work. Turnkey Solutions staff are experts in this.

Convenience vs. Individuality

This is the most ambiguous part of using a Turnkey Solutions website. As we have already discussed, Turnkey Solutions can make site design easy, especially if you have little experience with such matters. Then again, your basic site package will look like everybody else's basic site package. Uniqueness has practical benefits in the business of dropshipping: you get more attention and sell more products. If you wish, you can pay for "extras," and work with the Turnkey Solutions staff in order to individualize some aspects of your design. Of course, the more tweaking you want to do, the more money you have to pay. It really depends on how much you can afford to spend. If you are just starting out and have very little extra money, it is perhaps best to begin with the basic packages. At least you will have a website, even if it is not your ideal one. Then, once you have a bit more money, you can pay for some adjustments to make your site more unique.

Other Options

If you like, you can search for businesses that offer some but not all of the Turnkey Solutions features. They can give you some of the parts you need to build your site, like virtual shopping carts and an internal search engine.

If you would like to learn more about Turnkey Solutions, check out providers like Yahoo Stores or Amazon Webstore.

With the steady stream of people charging the gates of The Emerald E-commerce City, it's easy to watch and think "I can do that". While this is absolutely true, what must be understood is that building a successful - that means profitable - e-commerce business can take just as much work as opening the doors to a traditional brick and mortar store. If you have an e-commerce site that is floundering, or that you wish to grow larger, make sure you're not getting stuck in any of the common pitfalls that sap the life out of budding entrepreneur's dreams.

An Unfriendly Site

Can you imagine walking in to a store for the first time and not being able to find what you need? Would you stay in the store very long if you noticed staff simply walking right by without welcoming you to their establishment and trying to meet your needs? I would be gone!

Sometimes I think people opening their e-commerce doors get so caught up in building great displays that they forget they must create a user-friendly shopping environment for customers. Think about it this way. Let's go back into the traditional store that I have driven to, walked from my car into the store and need help. Although I would be peeved, I just may ask for help. After all, I did go through the trouble of getting there and I would waste time having to drive to another store now. Well if a shopper comes to your site and doesn't quickly and easily find what they need, all they have to do is click a button (and click a button, they will!).

To be profitable, make sure you have given plenty of thought to how usable you make your site. While customers will be impressed with all of your colorful pictures of the many products you offer, it will not be enough to keep them searching.

This is Not an Obstacle CourseShoppers turn to online stores because they seemingly offer more convenience. Knowing this, your website should be set up to easily walk shoppers through the process of buying. This means that your navigation bar is easy to see and use, without loads of hidden categories. It also means that care should be taken in asking for personal information from a buyer too soon. While it is important that a site have an Opt-In offer, having it pop up as soon as a shopper hits your Home Page will likely scare them off.

Another big issue that site builders miss is the big picture, literally. Zona Research estimates that more than $4 billion annually, or $362 million per month, are lost due to unacceptable download speeds. Work with image sizes to make sure they are properly sized in order to download as quickly as possible.

Other obstacles that shoppers are slow to hurdle are shipping and handling costs as well as pricing. Don't be afraid to show consumers your prices! If you offer free shipping you should shout it from the mountaintops. If you don't, make sure a customer can calculate shipping before you ask for credit card information. Missing this will cost you a sale 9 times out of 10.

Technology is great. Thanks to constant advancements, we have a new way to do business. Make your business successful and profitable by steering clear of these pitfalls

The birth of the internet has changed the way we do business. The change has done wonders for those who have long desired to be in business for themselves, as the investment needed for a web start up can be next to nothing much of the time. Does this mean that claims of becoming an internet mogul overnight are true? Absolutely not.

Being in business for yourself, even in ecommerce, takes and investment of time, commitment and money. But when you do what it takes to increase traffic to your website in whatever way possible, the payoff on any initial investment will be there. With all that there is to accomplish in the day to day operations of running a business, outsourcing projects to a professional company or freelancers whenever possible carries with it huge benefits.

Outsourcing saves a business owner an enormous amount of time. Can you imagine trying to write all of your own descriptions, searching for directories in which to distribute your own press releases and articles with backlinks to your site? Don't forget all the keywords! And that's what is necessary just to drive traffic to your website.

While some may think that outsourcing only covers things like writing, accounting and web development, there is more to it. A newbie to the web world can even use outsourcing solutions to find the products they can be confident will sell, and manufacturers who will drop ship those products right to their customers. Talk about making your job easier! This eliminates the need for warehouse space and inventory control.

When you outsource projects relating to products, you save both money and time. Choosing products through a database like that available at Drop Ship Access saves you from having to travel to trade shows, which is an experience in itself. Just attending Trade shows does not guarantee you a product to sell. There's a lot of schmoozing going on at these shows, much of it leading to nowhere.

Your time is too valuable to waste it in such a way when there is an easier solution to get you up and running. Having the ability to choose products from manufacturers who have already been checked out for dependability allows a busy CEO to get down to the more important task of ensuring an increase of targeting website traffic. Ways to increase traffic abound. Again, outsourcing work to a freelance writer who specializes in SEO content gets this job done quickly and efficiently.

Outsourcing takes away the need to find and train employees, lease office or warehouse space, or learn all the ins and outs of internet marketing on your own. It eases your load and enables you to collaborate with other professionals and grow your business more quickly than you would without these resources. The benefits of outsourcing can range from a little less stress in starting an ecommerce business to having enough time to develop several sites.

One recommendation I would make is that when you consider outsourcing, keep in mind that certain aspects of your business speak for you. The tone of your site is set by the writers you hire. The customer service staff you hire is the strongest impression customers will receive. This department can make or break the success of your site. Writers increase web traffic, and customer service develops the relationships that bring repeat business.

So there you have it. Outsourcing is a hot buzz word for good reason. If you're just getting started in a web business, or want to expand into new product markets, check out the database at Drop Ship Access to find your next niche!